Joanne Chang’s Chocolate Chunk Cookie Recipe
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Dec 1, 2024 • 6 min read
Chef Joanne Chang’s chocolate chunk cookie recipe features generous chunks of hand-chopped semisweet and milk chocolate, a little bit of bread flour, and a lot of precision. “You are about to make the best chocolate chip cookie dough of your life,” she says. Jump to recipe.
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What Are Chocolate Chunk Cookies?
Chocolate chunk cookies are a variation on the popular chocolate chip cookie featuring hand-chopped chocolate pieces rather than chocolate chips. There are two main advantages to using chocolate chunks over chips. The first is that you can get larger pieces of chocolate in each bite, making this a true chocolate lover’s cookie. The second is that the highest quality chocolate is often sold in bricks, not chips. Cutting your own chocolate chunks from bricks of chocolate allows you to source the very best chocolate for your cookies.
Joanne Chang’s Version of Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Joanne Chang’s take on the chocolate chunk cookie includes bread flour for heft, and a mix of both semisweet and milk chocolate. The semisweet chocolate has a more intense chocolate flavor, while the milk chocolate adds notes of caramelization. If you like to experiment, try different kinds of chocolate—white, ruby, mint—to explore different flavor profiles.
For Joanne, baking is more about making a connection. “The whole point of baking, for me at least. . . is spreading the joy and the love of connecting with somebody else through a pastry,” Joanne says. “So that's what we’re going to do with this chocolate chip cookie.”
Joanne Chang’s Top Tips for Baking Chocolate Chunk Cookies
“Pastry is about taking that extra step to make it extra special,” Joanne says. Here’s how she does it:
- 1. Avoid eggshells. Crack eggs into a small bowl instead of directly into the stand mixer to avoid getting any shell in the dough. “Have you ever had a cookie with eggshell?” Joanne says. “You’d think it wouldn’t be so bad. You’d think it’d be nice and crunchy, but it’s pretty nasty.”
- 2. Cream for longer than you think. For the lightest, most delectable cookies, cream your butter and sugar for at least five to eight minutes total.
- 3. Don’t overmix. When stirring in mix-ins, mix until they’re just combined—overworking the dough can make the cookies tough. Joanne likes to finish mixing her cookie dough by hand to get a feel for the dough and avoid overmixing.
- 4. Chill overnight. For the best flavor and texture, let the cookie dough chill overnight, giving the eggs and butter time to absorb into the flour. “What’s gonna happen is the dough is actually gonna hydrate,” Joanne says. “That flour is gonna absorb more of the liquid that’s in the eggs in the butter, and it’s gonna bake off into a much better cookie. So we’re gonna have to be patient and wait until tomorrow to eat these cookies, but it’s gonna be worth it.”
Joanne Chang’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies Recipe
makes
24 cookiesprep time
30 mintotal time
3 hr 58 mincook time
18 minIngredients
Note that total time includes 3 hours of chill time for the dough and 10 minutes of cool time for the cookies.
- 1
Place a mixing bowl on the scale, and tare the scale. Before the tare times out, weigh out the bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chunks. Tare the scale again, and add the milk chocolate chunks to the same bowl. Set the bowl aside.
- 2
Place a clean mixing bowl on the scale, tare the scale, and weigh out the granulated sugar. Tare the scale again, and add the brown sugar to the same bowl. Set the bowl aside.
- 3
Place another clean mixing bowl on the scale, tare the scale, and weigh out the bread flour. Tare the scale again, and add the all-purpose flour to the same bowl. Add the baking soda and salt to the bowl. Whisk to combine all of the ingredients. Set the bowl aside.
- 4
Crack the eggs into a small mixing bowl. Add the vanilla extract to the eggs, and whisk to combine. Set the bowl aside.
- 5
In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using an electric hand mixer (note: using a hand mixer will take longer), add the butter and both sugars.
- 6
Cream the ingredients, starting on low speed and increasing to medium speed, until the butter is light and fluffy, about 3–4 minutes. Stop the mixer a few times throughout and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure you combine all of the ingredients.
- 7
Continue mixing on medium speed for 2–3 minutes more, pausing occasionally to scrape down the bowl, until the mixture is very light and fluffy.
- 8
Mix on medium speed for another 2–3 minutes to aerate the mixture, which will ultimately give the cookies a crispier, lighter texture. Pause the mixer.
- 9
Turn the mixer on low speed and slowly drizzle in the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix until everything is fully incorporated and the mixture is light and creamy, about 2–3 minutes, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pause the mixer.
- 10
Add the chocolate chunks to the bowl with the flour mixture, and stir gently to combine.
- 11
Add the chocolate-flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture, and pulse in the standing mixer (quickly turning the machine on and off) on low speed for 1–2 minutes, until all of the ingredients are mostly combined.
- 12
Remove the bowl from the standing mixer and finish combining using a rubber spatula, gently folding the dough by pushing your spatula into the center of the bowl and scooping up from the bottom while turning the bowl.
- 13
Mix just until there are no dry ingredients visible. Be careful to not overwork the dough, or the cookies will be tough.
- 14
Transfer the dough to an airtight container just large enough to hold it. Chill it in the refrigerator for at least 3–4 hours and up to overnight. (If you have enough space, you can also cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap, press down to create an airtight seal, and place it in your refrigerator.) These cookies are at their best flavor- and texture-wise when you chill the dough overnight, as this gives the liquid from the eggs and butter time to fully absorb into the flour. (You can store unbaked dough in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3–4 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month. If baking from frozen, allow the dough to defrost in the refrigerator overnight before scooping and baking.)
- 15
Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position two racks as close to the center as possible.
- 16
Using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop (or a large spoon, a wooden spoon, or even your hands), drop balls of dough onto a parchment paper–lined baking sheet, spaced 2–3 inches apart (you may need to use multiple baking sheets). You can do this with chilled dough straight from the refrigerator or allow the dough to come to room temperature (about 1 hour) to make it softer and easier to scoop.
- 17
Use the palm of your hand to flatten each ball slightly. If your dough has warmed to room temperature, this step is not necessary.
- 18
Bake until the cookies are golden brown at their edges and slightly soft in the center, 15–18 minutes. If you’re baking multiple sheets at once: Halfway through baking, place the bottom sheet of cookies on the upper rack and the top sheet of cookies on the lower rack, and rotate both sheets 180 degrees to ensure an even bake.
- 19
After the cookies bake, cool them on their baking sheets for 5–10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. When cool, the cookies should be golden brown on the outside and pale golden in the center, and cooked through.
- 20
To serve, arrange the cookies on a plate or platter. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
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